


nobody owes you now

by zanykingmentality



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Ambiguous Relationships, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Post-War, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:01:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24714250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zanykingmentality/pseuds/zanykingmentality
Summary: there is a newly-built greenhouse just on the outskirts of the palace.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 113





	nobody owes you now

**Author's Note:**

> i'm getting back in the swing of writing avatar so this is just a warm up that i did... my love for zutara has not and will not abate
> 
> thank u for reading, i hope u enjoy !!

The greenhouse is beautiful. 

Katara crouches at the base of the terraces, dipping her fingers into the running water. Her eyes sparkle as she watches the plants sway in the warm air. 

Yeah, the greenhouse is beautiful. 

Zuko pauses before he says anything, letting the quiet linger. 

“Katara?” he says. 

She turns around. “Zuko,” she says, and a small smile comes to her face. There was a time when the sight of him made her scowl. 

(How far they’ve come, indeed.) 

He steps forward. “What are you doing here?” 

Katara turns back to the plants. “I figured it’d be nice to grow medicinal herbs too,” she says, “and I guess I got distracted.” 

“Understandable,” Zuko says. He crouches next to her, letting one of his hands rest on the side of the water basin. The waterways wind throughout the entire greenhouse. “It’s peaceful here.”

Katara looks over at him. His hair is in a topknot, a red ribbon tied around it, matching her Fire Nation robes. He looks regal: every bit the Fire Lord he’s meant to be. 

The palace has never had a greenhouse before. Previous Fire Lords saw it as a place to plan destruction; not one that could sustain life. And it’s true that Fire Nation soil is not always conducive to growing plants. A lot of the earth is rocky and hard and difficult to punch into, much less use for gardening. 

That doesn’t stop Zuko. Or, more correctly, that doesn’t stop Katara. She visits the plants almost daily, talks to them, shares with them. Bends water for them. Shows her skills as party tricks, because since the war’s ended, there is not much reason for them to fight anymore. 

She pushes a strand of hair behind her ear. Her trademark hair-loopies have been replaced by free-falling hair that blows every which way in the wind. Zuko thinks he could live and die by that, the to and fro of Katara’s hair. 

(Not that he will. Not that she’ll ever let him.) 

After a moment, Katara says, “What brings you here, Zuko?” 

He smiles. It is nothing like that defensive scowl he would’ve worn just a few months ago. “Do I need an excuse to visit you?” 

Katara laughs. “And you somehow always know where I am.” 

“Call it… intuition.” 

Zuko settles down and crosses his legs in front of him. Katara sits back, pressing her palms to the ground and leaning her weight against them, staring up at the terraces that rise over them like stairs. She looks over to Zuko. 

“Well, I’m glad you keep finding me,” she says. “But I don’t want to bother you when you’re already so busy.” 

“You’re never a bother,” Zuko says. 

When Katara smiles this time, Zuko almost can’t restrain himself. He’s moving forward before he knows it, focused on her mouth. And yet, she doesn’t flinch away. Meets his gaze head-on. 

“What are you thinking?” she asks, softly. 

“It’s embarrassing,” Zuko says. 

“That’s okay.” 

“I’d really like to kiss you right now,” says Zuko. 

“Then do it,” says Katara, and that’s all the permission Zuko needs. He surges forward, pressing his mouth to hers, leaning forward on his hands. Katara shifts her weight, brings a hand up to cup his face — the scarred side, running her thumb over the jagged space where his skin bruises — and the spirits have never been kind to Zuko but in this moment he thinks everything he’s been fighting for is _worth it,_ that so long as he can have this he can endure anything the world might throw at him. At _them._ Because Katara is not one to fade into the background. 

She tastes like salt water, like she’s been sitting by the sea. She smells like fire, like love, like home. 

When Zuko pulls away, they are only a breath apart. For a moment, they are silent. 

“I don’t think that’s traditional of Fire Nation courtship,” Katara says. 

“Screw tradition,” Zuko says, and kisses her again. 

**Author's Note:**

> ouchie my heart
> 
> (also shh. i know it's 666 words. shut up)


End file.
